Summer School and Routing Software

Warmer temperatures are underway. Baseball games and track meets dominate your athletic trip schedule. You’re planning for the hectic finals week. Somehow, it’s almost the end of the school year again and, if you’re like most people who work in K-12 transportation, you cringe when someone says, “Aren’t you off for the summer?”

Not only are sports events and final exams ensuring your operation stays busy now, but there are plenty of demands that can keep you busy all summer long: graduation ceremonies, Extended School Year (ESY) services, the traveling band, transition students and, of course, summer school.

One day soon, you’ll receive a list of summer school students and be asked to provide complete busing information for them as soon as possible. While the drivers are waiting to hear how much work they’ll get over the summer, most teachers and administrators are already imagining themselves at the beach. And you can too! If you use your routing software to its full advantage.

How can software help? The same way it helps with your everyday routes — saving time by helping you easily adapt to changes. Here are some functions you should already be using in your software that can help you plan and execute the busy summer routing season:

Automatically import enrolled students and locate them on the map in minutes

Route students using time-based criteria, so you can easily schedule them for classes that are in the same area but start at different times

Quickly add stops only where needed, allowing you to condense routes and be flexible with pick-up and drop-off times

Reverse a run with a simple click, cutting down on the time you spend creating those outbound routes

Email routes and directions to drivers right from the software, empowering them to spend less time in the office

Each summer is different, and summer school students can usually enroll even after summer classes start. Helping you manage complicated routing schemes that change on a whim is what K-12 transportation software is all about. This year, let software work for you, so you can work on more important things — like maybe spending only eight hours in the office and seeing some of that beach!